Journal Entries 2
by Night-Requiem
Summary: 2nd installment of my Journal Entries. They probably should have all been one file, but oh well. Shorter than the 1st, and not as in-depth.


April 16, 2003  
  
Wormtongue is a particularly pathetic character, one who I do not pity or feel bad for in the least. The name itself sounds deceit and filth. Grima Wormtongue. Grima sounds like grime, and Wormtongue suggests lies and corruption. By his hands, the king is rendered useless and the entire kingdom is almost laid bare before Sauron and Saruman. His betrayal of Théoden is readily apparent to Gandalf, and although his healing of Théoden is much more dramatic in the movie, it is still a nice scene for Wormtongue to be cast aside and seen for the poison he is. The movies does an especially nice job of creating him to be snake-ish, and have him give off a very creep-crawly feeling.  
  
I'm sorry, but there's not a lot I can really talk about in this section for some reason.  
  
April 18, 2003  
  
Despite many changes and omissions from the book, the movie version is very successful in grasping the feeling and events of The Fellowship. The book itself is so rich and full of so many stories, characters, and themes that even though big chunks of stories and chapters were not used, it did not take away from the beauty of the book. Unlike to The Two Towers movie, which at times almost butchers the story line (the appearance of Elves at Helm's Deep, Aragorn being tossed over cliff by a Warg, etc) The Fellowship almost follows the story exactly, just skipping over large sections of the book. But I rather miss characters who get left, such as Tom Bombadil and the attention paid to Butterbar and other minor characters. I understand that time and money constraints are a large part of why and where characters are cut, and I do not hold this against the creators of the movie, but I would enjoy to see them on the big screen just to see them as 'real'.  
  
But aside from all of this, The Fellowship definitely captured the heart and mood of the story, and harps on the urgency in which the characters act upon. The enemies seem more dangerous in the movie, though, perhaps because of the quickened time table. There are also many relationship dynamics that get changed a bit, such as how Aragorn and Boromir treat each other, the fact that Sam is more of a friend then a servant to Frodo, and the evolution of the friendship between Legolas and Gimli. There really isn't too much of a transition in the movie, though. There's slight irritation between the two of them, but it is hardly highlighted and since scenes such as before the Fellowship enters Lothlorien (the whole blind-folding problem), which show the animosity between the Elves and Dwarves, are often left out, the audience is unaware of the changes that happen.  
  
April 25, 2003  
  
In general, I pity Gollum/Sméagol, in the way that Bilbo and Frodo seem to pity him. He is a wretched, miserable creature, living a horrible life under the control of the Ring. Part of him does want to be rid of the Gollum personality and belong with the Hobbits among Middle Earth, and Frodo sees this and tries to cater to it by addressing him as Sméagol, talking kindly to him, and trusting Sméagol as much as he can afford. Sam represents another scope, the distrust and anger towards Gollum. Slinker and Stinker are Sam's name for Gollum, and, while they may be accurate, they are not helping Frodo any. When Frodo becomes Sméagol's Master, it somewhat pushes Sam away a bit because Frodo has been his Master, and now this slimy, murderous creature had almost effectively replaced at least part of Sam's role. At this point, Sam has started to go his own way and doesn't listen to Frodo the way he used to. He is stuck in a limbo, no longer Frodo's full servant, but not quite his own master. The responsibility that Sam takes on for himself, then, is to distrust Gollum and continuously question what he's doing and where he's been. Sam is justified in his suspicions, but it would have been wiser to follow Frodo in his actions of trust in Gollum-even if they just an act to hide Sam's true feelings. Sméagol was ever so slowly emerging from the creature Gollum, and had Sam treated him with kindness, it may have been a stronger and more complete transformation. Nothing would have saved Gollum from the power of the Ring, but Sam could have tried and listened to Frodo's unspoken command. Sam has traditionally kept things on the inside, allowing the others to speak for him, but, unwisely, he's not hiding what he thinks and feels, and this is not going to help Frodo at all.  
  
May 1, 2003  
  
I was sorry that, in the movie, there was so much of the Ents cut out. I can understand why, because they take up many chapters, but I still miss them. Merry and Pippin staying with Treebeard, drinking Ent-draught and telling their stories was a pleasant respite from the Orcs and coming war, and there were many scenes that revealed Tolkien's continued weaving of many stories together, such as the disappearance of the Ent-wives so long ago. The Last March of the Ents was also quite impressive, especially since the Trees themselves ended up walking and going to Helm's Deep to get revenge on the Orcs-a detail I somewhat missed in the movie. The replacement of the Trees by the Elves was an odd choice, I think, but it does in a way make sense. A very large number of people go and watch the movies without even realizing that they are based on books, and, while the moving Trees makes sense to those who are already Tolkien fans, it just would have spread out an already long movie by explaining.  
  
The Ents' anger is what impresses me, though. Although Ents are very slow and like to take their time with everything, their decision to march on Isengard was made quickly by Treebeard's standards. But it is rather hard to expect anything else, really. The Ents are small in numbers as it is, and the attacks on their Tree brethren is the final insult that they can take, especially with the history between Saruman and Treebeard. There are so many conversations and relationships left out of the movie, but it is for necessity's sake because only die-hard Tolkien fans would be willing to sit through a five hour movie that includes all of the characters and all of their stories. 


End file.
